It was an unlikely scenario for somebody who had quit running just a few years ago, riddled by injuries and unable to pay the bills. But when she moved from Boulder, Colorado, to New York to work as a nanny, she was in search of friends, so Kieffer started running again to widen her social circle. Gradually and quietly, the 31-year-old was reacquainted with her talent, and wondered what she could accomplish at the 26.2-mile distance.

A Long Island native, Kieffer arrived at the 2017 starting line mostly unknown, without a coach or a sponsor. Finishing in 2:29:39, it wasn’t long before she signed a contract to represent Oiselle and rejoined Brad Hudson, her Boulder-based former coach.

Along the way, Kieffer’s transparency about her struggles, advocacy for positive body image, and her penchant for a nomadic lifestyle have earned her instant fans. She’s racing New York again on Sunday and isn’t shy about her aspiration to finish in the top three in a field that includes Keitany, defending champion Shalane Flanagan, 2018 London champion Vivian Cheruiyot, Boston champion Desiree Linden, and Molly Huddle, who placed third in New York two years ago.

Kieffer recently chatted with Runner’s World to talk about her training, goals, and how her expectations have evolved since that race one year ago.

New York marked the beginning of breakthrough performances for you. What are the highlights of the past year in your view?

There have been highs and lows. I ran the Doha Half Marathon [in January] and set a huge PR of over three minutes. I ran 1:10:40. Then I went to train in Kenya for seven weeks and had an amazing time there running. Unfortunately, literally the last day I was there, something was really hurting in my foot. I got back to the U.S. and got an X-ray and MRI. It turns out it was broken—I had a stress fracture in my second metatarsal. So I spent seven weeks not running.

I felt like I had a slow buildup after that. The race results don’t make it look like that because I ended up with another PR in the 5K, which was my first race after that injury. Then I went to the 10K at Peachtree and finished fourth in the national championships. Four days later I ran Boilermaker [15K] and got sixth and ran it 40 seconds faster than last year.

From the race results standpoint, it was a highlight reel, but it felt like training wasn’t going super well. I felt like I was struggling through a lot of workouts. But then I started to get some pretty good training, so I went to the 20K championships [on Labor Day] and was second. That was the first time I felt like my training backed up my race results.

My boyfriend and I broke up, and so I left that home base in Buffalo, New York, in June. I felt a little bit homeless after that. I trained in Boulder but was living in Nederland, Colorado, after we broke up. I don’t have an update on life outside of running, I’m so sad to say. But being in Colorado—I lived there before in 2012 and 2013—I have friends there outside of running. My best friend from when I was born lives in Denver, so it was nice to be around people that I love.

Yes, I signed with Oiselle. It’s made this buildup for New York a lot better, and overall having the support of a company behind me allowed me to afford more. Also, I have Brad to talk to about running, but sometimes I feel like we’re on too much of the same page that I need somebody else who understands running to talk to about things. Having the people at Oiselle to hash things through with—they all have the same end goal in mind in that they want the best for me and my races and performances—has been great.

You worked with Hudson before. Why did you decide to rejoin forces?

When I was on my own in New York, I tried to mimic the style of training that he does. Every so often I’d call him or text him to get his opinion on what I was doing or tweaks I should make. After New York City, it showed me that I could accomplish a lot in the marathon and I can get better as a runner. I thought Brad did a tremendous job with me in 2012 and I trusted him.

I wanted a coach again—I actually wanted a coach before New York last year, it’s just that nobody was that interested in coaching me. It was very easy to go back to him. I played with the idea of trying to join the Bowerman Track Club and I don’t know if I would’ve gotten accepted, but I feel really fortunate that I teamed up with Brad. Everything is individualized for me. He cares about me as a person and knows me really well, so that’s part of the reason I’ve excelled so much this past year.

AK: I ran a lot of miles this year compared to last year. For five weeks I averaged 115 miles. My confidence comes from building work on top of more work, so I don’t really put a lot of stock into one workout. I actually rarely complete the workout exactly the way it’s written. If I make 80 to 90 percent of the workout and I feel like that is the best effort I can give on that day, I walk away and know that we’ll come back in three days to try a different one. I can give as much as I can that day and it sets me up for the marathon to tune into my effort instead of the pace I want to run. The confidence comes from knowing how to gauge that.

Reflecting on your race last year, what would you like to replicate?

I tempered my excitement early in the race and I’d love to replicate that because it’s really easy to go too fast, too soon in the marathon. It’s exciting to be in the pack, but last year I did a good job of letting them go because they were a little bit faster than I thought I could run that day. I would love to have that mindset that I’m running my own race. That’s how I’m going to run my best race—doing what’s best for me.

I have a lot more confidence that I can run with the leaders or be in the top five or hopefully top three. I can take a little bit of a chance. If they’re running course record pace, I’ll probably let them go, but I also want to put myself in the hunt for the top three, more so because I had so much work to make up in the late stages last year and ended up gaining on a lot of people to place really well. This year I’m in better shape and hoping to move up there a little more. I need to position myself for that.

Because the professional women start first, you can end up solo for much of the race. How will you handle that?

I’ve done a couple races in the past few weeks where everybody started at the same time—men, women, marathoners, and half marathoners. It felt a little chaotic because there were very elite women trying to set a course record at the [Toronto] Waterfront Marathon, and I went out with them because I was only doing the half marathon as a workout. Obviously running a 2:22 is also a phenomenal time for men, too. But they were interfering with the women running for top five spots. It was awkward because my only real marathon has been New York City, with a female-only start.

You can get stuck by yourself for a lot of the race, but based off that other experience, I really like that women-only start. I like to know where I am in the race. Women’s running right now is on fire and a lot of people are getting excited about the field—the women are the stars of the show, though I might be biased in saying that. It will be nice to compete just against those women and not have the men in the field to confuse where you are. It gives women time to be the headline on TV and for the spectators on the course, too.

So what will a successful race look like for you on Sunday?

I’ve been thinking about that a lot because there’s this inner voice that saying that outside of the top five would be bad. But that’s really not true. The whole buildup has gone so well and I’ve had a lot of good races. Coming back from injury has gone way better than I could have imagined. I learned in Kenya that you gain fitness even if the end result isn’t what you want. I got hurt and I didn’t get to capitalize on all the training I’d done, but I came back quicker because of all that fitness I had. In a way there’s all this pressure to back up all the good training with a good performance, but it’s already been a success. If everything goes wrong on Sunday, it’s just one race in the grand scheme of things. I could also have the race of my life and there could be seven people better than me. You’re not in control of what the competition can do.

You’ve traveled quite a bit to do a few races at a time when many of your competitors are hunkering down until they go to New York. Why?

Brad wanted me to come down to sea level to recover and also dial in on what marathon pace feels like. I’d been doing everything at altitude so you’re slowing down the pace. It’s drastically harder. Everything’s been coming so much easier at sea level. I did the Staten Island Half Marathon to figure out what the race pace feels like and also because since I left Colorado, I don’t have training partners anymore. Trying to get someone to do a 13-mile workout with me is like nearly impossible.

I like traveling and going new places and meeting new people. That excites me. It’s different because most people feel tired from the travel. I don’t, so why not take the opportunity to enjoy it?

What are your plans after the race? Do you have anything fun you’re looking forward to?

I’m going to Thailand and Vietnam. I’ve never been to Southeast Asia, and I’ve wanted to go for a long time, so I’m going there. My mom is getting knee surgery the Wednesday after the marathon, so I’ll be taking her to surgery, then hopping on a plane later that day. Then I’m going back to Kenya.

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